Mastermind behind college admission scheme says he facilitated more than 750 acceptances in pay-to-play plot

William (Rick) Singer founder of the Edge College & Career Network, departs federal court in Boston on Tuesday, after he pleaded guilty to charges in a nationwide college admissions bribery scandal. (Steven Senne / AP)

He got kids into college though a “side door” — and now faces up to 65 years behind a cell door.

The architect of a $25 million college admissions scam that ensnared actresses Lori Loughlin, Felicity Huffman and dozens of others, crowed about his chicanery, not knowing the FBI was listening in.

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William (Rick) Singer, who pleaded guilty Tuesday in a Boston Federal Court to racketeering, money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges, claimed to have orchestrated 761 “side door” admission deals for the children of the “wealthiest families in the U.S.” in a phone conversation recorded by the FBI.

“They don’t want to be messing around with this thing. And so they want in at certain schools. So I did 761 what I would call ‘side doors.’ There is a front door, which means you get in on your own. The back door is through institutional advancement, which is 10 times more money,” he explained.

“And I’ve created this side door in, because the back door, when you go through institutional advancement, as you know, everybody’s got a friend of friend, who know somebody who knows somebody but there’s no guarantee, they’re just gonna give you a second look. My families want a guarantee.”

According to investigators, Singer established an elaborate scheme that involved him paying people to take tests for the children of his wealthy clients and bribing proctors and administrators to look the other way. Prosecutors said he used a phony charity, The Key Worldwide Foundation, to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to college coaches to pretend incoming students had been top athletes.

Prosperous parents paid between $200,000 and $6.5 million to ensure their children would get into certain schools, including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown, Wake Forest and the University of Southern California. According to court documents released by the Department of Justice, the 58-year-old Sacramento man said the price varied depending on students’ skills and what schools they wanted to attend.

Singer also allegedly used funds from The Key Worldwide foundation to donate to his son’s school, DePaul University. According to ABC 7 Chicago, he shelled out $150,000 in 2014, 2015 and 2016, while his son was studying at the school.

A university official told the news station that “to date, our review has not revealed any reason to believe these donations are connected to recent indictments,” adding the money went toward “helping students study abroad.”

Huffman, well-known for playing Lynette Scavo on “Desperate Housewives,” was indicted on charges stemming from the $15,000 she paid to have someone take an admission exam for her daughter, which she also allegedly disguised as a charitable donation. Her actor husband, William H. Macy, was not indicted in the case, though the couple was caught discussing the scam in a recorded conversation with a corroborating witness.

Loughlin, who was shooting a TV movie in Vancouver, British Columbia, Tuesday when her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, was arrested in the nationwide bust, returned to the U.S. and was arrested Wednesday. They’re both facing charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.

The “Full House” actress and her husband allegedly agreed to pay $500,000 to have their two daughters listed as potential recruits for the USC crew team — despite the fact that they do not participate in the sport — to boost the likelihood of their admittance.

Singer, dubbed the “ringleader” behind the one of the largest college admissions scams ever, is facing a maximum sentence of 65 years behind bars.